Cardinals first-ever playoff loss with 10-strikeout starter

Before the St. Louis Cardinals dropped Game 1 of the 2012 National League Division Series to the visiting Washington Nationals on Sunday due to a combination of misfortunes in the seventh and eighth innings, starting pitcher Adam Wainwright kept his team in the game.

For the first 5 2/3 innings, the right-hander held the Nats’ offense to a single run on six hits. Wainwright secured 10 of his 17 outs via the strikeout. Over the final 3 1/3 frames, relievers Lance Lynn, Mitchell Boggs and Marc Rzepczynski added one more strikeout each for a team total of 13.

This was the 206th post-season game in Cardinals history. In the seven prior outings in which their starter logged at least 10 strikeouts, the Cardinals won each time – until Sunday.

Wainwright’s performance is tied for fourth-most strikeouts by a Cardinals pitcher in a post-season game and the highest total in 44 years.

Hall of Famer Bob Gibson logged the top two and five of the team’s eight double-digit post-season strikeout performances. Tops on both the team and MLB all-time lists is his 17 strikeouts in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series. Further, Gibson had eight of the 20 Cardinals playoff outings with eight or more K’s.

Most strikeouts in a post-season game, pitcher, St. Louis Cardinals history

Player

Date

Series

Gm#

Opp

Rslt

App,Dec

IP

H

R

ER

BB

SO

HR

Bob Gibson

10/2/1968

WS

1

DET

W 4-0

SHO9 ,W

9.0

5

0

0

1

17

0

Bob Gibson

10/12/1964

WS

5

NYY

W 5-2

CG 10 ,W

10.0

6

2

0

2

13

1

Mort Cooper

10/8/1944

WS

5

SLB

W 2-0

SHO9 ,W

9.0

7

0

0

2

12

0

Adam Wainwright

10/7/2012

NLDS

1

WAS

L 2-3

GS-6

5.2

6

1

1

3

10

0

Bob Gibson

10/6/1968

WS

4

DET

W 10-1

CG 9 ,W

9.0

5

1

1

2

10

1

Bob Gibson

10/12/1967

WS

7

BOS

W 7-2

CG 9 ,W

9.0

3

2

2

3

10

0

Bob Gibson

10/4/1967

WS

1

BOS

W 2-1

CG 9 ,W

9.0

6

1

1

1

10

1

Pete Alexander

10/3/1926

WS

2

NYY

W 6-2

CG 9 ,W

9.0

4

2

1

1

10

0

Jeff Weaver

10/27/2006

WS

5

DET

W 4-2

GS-8 ,W

8.0

4

2

1

1

9

1

Woody Williams

10/10/2001

NLDS

2

ARI

W 4-1

GS-8 ,W

7.0

4

1

1

1

9

0

Andy Benes

10/3/1996

NLDS

2

SDP

W 5-4

GS-7

7.0

6

4

4

1

9

1

Bob Gibson

10/15/1964

WS

7

NYY

W 7-5

CG 9 ,W

9.0

9

5

5

3

9

3

Bob Gibson

10/8/1964

WS

2

NYY

L 3-8

GS-8 ,L

8.0

8

4

4

3

9

0

Paul Derringer

10/1/1931

WS

1

PHA

L 2-6

GS-7 ,L

7.0

11

6

6

3

9

1

Todd Stottlemyre

10/10/1996

NLCS

2

ATL

W 8-3

GS-6 ,W

6.0

4

3

3

3

8

1

Danny Cox

10/26/1985

WS

6

KCR

L 1-2

GS-7

7.0

7

0

0

1

8

0

John Tudor

10/23/1985

WS

4

KCR

W 3-0

SHO9 ,W

9.0

5

0

0

1

8

0

Bob Gibson

10/10/1968

WS

7

DET

L 1-4

CG 9 ,L

9.0

8

4

4

1

8

0

Roger Craig

10/11/1964

WS

4

NYY

W 4-3

1-5 ,W

4.2

2

0

0

3

8

0

Bill Hallahan

10/2/1931

WS

2

PHA

W 2-0

SHO9 ,W

9.0

3

0

0

7

8

0

From a team perspective, the 13-strikeout game tied for third-most in Cardinals playoff history and the second-most in a loss. Cardinals pitchers struck out 15 Kansas City Royals in Game 5 of the 1985 World Series, a 6-1 St. Louis defeat.

Following are the 21 of 206 Cardinals post-season games in which the team’s pitchers collected at least 10 strikeouts.

Most strikeouts in a post-season game, team, St. Louis Cardinals history

Lots of things could have gone our way, yet regrettably did not. The wildness of Gonzalez gave the gift of two runs. Descalso almost had a two run homer. Bases loaded, no one out, great hitters up in Craig and Molina. Great pitching by Wainwright, the kind needed for the playoffs. And yet, the Nats stole a game.
We have to forget and fight hard today. We can win 2 of 3 in DC.

I’ve been perusing the internet and listening to some St. Louis talk radio to take the pulse of Cardinal Nation. Everyone is upset, but upset for different reasons. There is a lot of anger about Matheny switching Boggs for Rzep. There is a lot of anger for the offense screwing the pooch, especially Craig and Molina for swinging at the first pitch with the bases loaded and no outs.

There are some who are defending Matheny. He’s a rookie manager, he will make mistakes, he got us in the playoffs, that sort of thing. Here’s what I think. Yes, we have to expect Matheny to make mistakes. It isn’t that he makes mistakes, it’s that he keeps repeating the same ones over and over. I could deal with mistakes if I thought he was learning from them. I mean even TLR would own up to a screw up once in a while. I don’t recall Matheny doing that once all season. I have beaten this horse before, but dangit, I don’t know what else to do. I am not a complacent fan, a rah rah fan who just says que sera sera. I’m not made that way. I don’t like complaining all the time, but if everyone were complacent about mistakes, how could anyone ever get better? It just frustrates the heck out of me.

Matheny didn’t get this team in the playoffs, Bud Selig and his wacky playoff system got them in the playoffs.

The offense was crap. It was. And I do think the offensive problems were the biggest reason we lost. That is on the players and to some extent Mark McGwire. I complain about that all the time too. It’s just that each time the offense screws up, it’ s not always the same players responsible. Last night, Freese was the one who did his job. Other times he has been one of the goats. It’s hard to complain about a group of people when they don’t all mess up. So maybe I do spend more time complaining about Matheny, but he is a non-moving target.

When Jay got hurt in April, he was not remotely close to having a play, he had lost track of the wall. It was like a bird running into a window, not seeing it. At the time, the announcers were surprised. Today, Jay, made an outstanding play and he knew where the wall was.

Like I wrote earlier: feast or famine from the offense. They wear themselves out racking up meaningless runs tonight a day after fumbling around helplessly. Let’s hope that they don’t lose steam again on Wednesday.

Holliday`s continued inability to hit worth a damn these 2 games is worrisome.Not to mention that throw.Is the guy wound up tighter than a drum or what? Cards will need his bat before the playoffs are done.

I’m assuming niether Matheny nor anyone else has suggested he take himself out. Certainly no one is going to take him out. You know about the 17 million reasons why. If we were the Yankees that wouldn’t matter but we’re just a little ol’ small market team. We’re busy doing we’re not worthy bows like whenever Albert was hurt and sucking. The local media included.

I should have said ’314 media’ but I’m not hip like Strauss. I mean like JS.

Bw, I agree. The Cards are a needy bunch. Their mothers must have been mean to them when they were little. Maybe Matt, I mean MH, is too busy holding their hands to waste time hitting and running around and stuff. Matheny just feels good about writing a 17M per guy’s name on the card. If he doesn’t. the 17M just sits. Remember that Bill.

I asked a simple question here just trying to understand a cryptic twitter by JS……… I guess in a manner of speaking……………….I got the answer in spades……………. funny how that works……… JS is only tipping the Iceberg himself……………. an interesting story there……. he is the one that received the KL resume………….he used to read here I guess………… thanks for the help.

It wasn’t really that simple, Westy. And as to tipping the iceberg, maybe he’s trying knock Bill’s penguins off. Why, I don’t know. It should be noted that I haven’t heard anything different from the non-314 media at MLB Network.